Every year, on December 6, we would hear an outcry about the historic fall of the Babri structure, forgetting the fact that it was a symbol of colonisation, inhuman mass murdering aggression and barbarism, against which the Hindu society had revolted through a movement. It was just a beginning of the larger process of decolonisation. All over the world, there is a growing realisation that not just political independence but breaking the shackles of colonialism in the intellectual and cultural realms is the real objective of decolonisation. All nations are trying to reconnect with their roots and uprooting the symbols of slavery. The British and American universities have become the main centres of this intellectual discourse. Unfortunately, Bharatiya intelligentsia with colonised minds and flawed prism of secularism always prefer to denigrate all such attempts in Bharat. Now when the grand Ram Mandir is reconstructed at Ayodhya and Bharat is ready to take new strides in the Amrit Kaal, we must resolve to get rid of all signs of slavery which is essential resolve for realising all other national objectives
While inaugurating Kartavya Path at India Gate in September 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the symbol of colonialism—Kingsway or Rajpath—will now be history. This move should be seen as a part of the Modi Government’s larger vision to do away with symbols of colonialism.
Erasing the Mosque
Similarly, erstwhile Babri Masjid, meaning the Mosque of Babur, was a controversial structure in Ayodhya. The site was reminiscent of Mughal tyranny. Mir Baqi, a general of the Mughal emperor Babur, destroyed the Hindu temple in 1528 CE and built a structure on its site. To corroborate this, Archaeological Survey of India conducted an excavation and found many evidences which suggest the presence of a Hindu structure underneath. The High Court noted that the Babri structure was not built on vacant land and the excavated relics were not Islamic in nature. The structure, a symbol of slavery, was razed to the ground in 1992.
Global Experiences of Decolonisation
Global demonstrations to remove monuments of slavery and colonialism are being held in public spaces across the world
Decolonising the Curriculum of Oxford
Students at British universities are increasingly calling for their reading lists to include more black and minority ethnic (BAME) writers. But four years after the first Rhodes Must Fall protest in South Africa, the campaign for decolonising the curriculum still faces scepticism and resistance.While Meghan Markle recently came out in support of the campaign, not all academics are on board.
Statue of Architect of Apartheid removed
The University of Cape Town successfully pushed for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the imperialist tycoon seen by many as an architect of apartheid. A monument to Rhodes at Oriel College at Oxford has inspired a petition and protests, along with a vigorous discussion about whether Britain’s colonial past should be judged by contemporary standards. n
Renaming Aurangzeb Road
Aurangzeb Road in Delhi was renamed to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road by NDMC on August 29, 2015. It is home to several Indian billionaires such as Arcelor Mittal’s L N Mittal, KP Singh of DLF and Max Healthcare’s Analjit Singh. The renaming of Aurangzeb Road to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road drew criticism from various sections of historians and politicians, such as Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati, Tariq Anwar of Nationalist Congress Party and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM.
Recently many more names have been changed. These include Devgiri Fort instead of Daulatabad Fort, Shaheed Bhagat Singh instead of Chandigarh International airport, Sambhaji Nagar instead of Aurangabad, Dharashiv instead of Osmanabad, Mahesh Nagar instead of Miyan ka Bara, Narmada Puram instead of Hoshangabad, Arun Jaitley Stadium instead of Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Station instead of Habibganj Station and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport instead of Aurangabad airport.
Names of a few cities have also been changed. Some of these are (old names are given in parenthesis): Prayagraj (Allahabad), Abhimanyupur (Amin), Varanasi (Banaras), Vadodara (Baroda), Vijayapura (Bijapur), Kozhikode (Calicut), Kolkata, (Calcutta), Kalburgi (Gulbarga), Chennai (Madras) and Saraswati Nagar (Mustafabad).
India believes that real revolution is improvement of character and so the real revolutionaries are parents, teachers, yogis, sages and saints. However, Communist regimes always considered mass murderers like Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong as revolutionary leaders.
When the wave of iconoclasm swept over Russia, relics of totalitarianism were destroyed and thousands of Lenin statues were broken to pieces. The demolition of monuments dedicated to Russian Communist leader, Vladimir Lenin in modern Ukraine, Poland and other countries started during the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The demolition of Lenin monuments in Ukraine happened in four stages. During the 1990s more than 2,000 Lenin monuments were demolished in Galicia and Volyn, at the turn of the 1990-2000s more than 600 Lenin monuments were removed in western and central areas, in 2005-2008 more than 600 were demolished mainly in central areas, and in 2013-2014, 552 monuments were demolished. As of today, no statues of the former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin have been left across Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, Vladimir Vyatrovich, said in an interview with Liga.
The same thing has also happened in Poland where over 2,000 Communist-era monuments have been removed since 1979. Young men in Ethiopia dismantled the statue of the Russian Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin in Addis Ababa on May 23, 1991, two days after the exiled departure of Ethiopia’s pro-Communist strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Columbus statue falls
The toppling of the Christopher Columbus statue that stood outside Minnesota’s Capitol since the 1930s is fanning political tensions among those who work inside the building. A demonstration led by American Indians left the Columbus statue face down on the sidewalk. The 10-foot bronze statue of the Italian explorer was pulled down despite a warning from the State Patrol.
Churches rebuilt after fall of USSR
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kazan Cathedral was the first church to be completely rebuilt after having been destroyed by the Communists. Kazan Cathedral was first built in 1612 in celebration of Moscow being recovered from Polish invaders.
Church of St. Nicholas at St Petersburg built between 1820 and 1838, this one-of-a-kind museum hosts the largest exhibition dedicated to the exploration and environment of the world’s polar regions, with a collection counting over 70,000 artifacts. Opened officially in 1937.
Lenin came to power after the October Revolution in 1917 and was responsible for the mass murder of millions until his death in 1924. In May 1922, Lenin issued a decree calling for the execution of anti-Bolshevik priests, causing between 14,000 and 20,000 deaths. A decree in April 1919 resulted in the establishment of concentration camps, which were entrusted to Cheka, later administered by a new Government agency, Gulag. By the end of 1920, 84 camps had been established across Soviet Russia, holding about 50,000 prisoners; by October 1923, this had grown to 315 camps and about 70,000 inmates. Those interned in the camps were used as slave labourers. From July 1922, intellectuals deemed to be opposing the Bolshevik Government were exiled to inhospitable regions or deported from Russia altogether; Lenin personally scrutinised the lists of those to be dealt with in this manner.
During the Russian Famine of 1921, Government exported large quantities of food grains, letting five million people to starve and die. People view a huge head of a statue of Joseph Stalin in the middle of downtown Budapest, Hungary.
Statues of Christopher Columbus smashed
Christopher Columbus claimed Central and South America for Spain during the 1400s. This resulted in the genocide and extinction of several Native American Tribes.
In Caracas, Venezuela, the statue of Christopher Columbus was toppled in 2004. It was replaced by a likeness of Guaicaipuro, an indigenous chief who resisted Spanish conquerors. Venezuelan demonstrators place a rope to take down a Christopher Columbus statue in.
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